Journal52 Prompt: Week 24-Courage #Journal52 #ArtJournaling #KobiYomeda

One of my favorite quotes is from Kobi Yomeda's 'She' and this week's Journal52 prompt, Courage, seemed a good time to use it.

I already knew what techniques I wanted to use--peeled paper and negative shapes.  So it all should have been easy peasy, right?

Nah.  It turned out to be one of those fussy, complicated  pages where I kept layering because I didn't like what lay underneath, but then I'd end up removing much of the layer I just put down because I had also covered elements I did like.

I finally said enough, and maybe I'll come back and add more at another time--and maybe not.  For those interested, I've written up my process.

Step 1: I tore up 3 sheets from an old music book.

Step 2: The entire journal page was covered with Polymer Medium (glue).

Step 3: The strips of torn music were glued down, pieces overlapping and turned in different directions.  Once the page was covered with the strips, I applied another layer of Polymer Medium.

Step 4: While the last layer of Polymer Medium was still tacky, but close to dry, I used my fingernails to dig into the strips of music, and peel off pieces of it.

Step 5: I made sure some peeled strips left layers of text underneath and some left white.

Step 6: I rolled up the bits of peeled off paper, and used the Polymer Medium to glue them back down where the wings would go.  Without getting too detailed, I glued them down in a pattern to suggest feathers laying downward in the shape of the wings.

Step 7: Higgins Inks have eye droppers attached to the lid.  I squeezed out three colors of ink at the top of the page and let the colors trickle down the page. 

Step 8: If I could go back, I would skip this step because it mixed the ink too much.  I misted the ink with water because I wanted it to run more, but it all pooled together instead.  This method would have worked all right if I had been using analogous colors instead of the three primaries-red, yellow and blue.  Something like yellow, yellow-green, green or pink, orange and red, colors that are close to each other would have done better.  I hadn't intended for them to mix very much.

Step 9: I spritzed some alcohol onto a paper towel and used it to lift off some ink.  The indigo was very staining though and didn't come off well.

Step 10: I closed the pages of the journal, rubbed a little and then re-opened.  This took excess paint off the page I was working on (the left), and laid the foundation for my next page (the right).  I used a paper towel to spread the paint on my future page.

Step 11:  I squeezed off a dab of vermilion paint and used a brush to spread it around the page, leaving the negative shape of the woman and her wings.

Step 12:  I used a mix of light pink and light orange paint to block in the shapes of the face and arms. I added metallic yellow for the hair, layers of ultramarine blue and metallic yellow for the dress.  I used Metallic Pearl and Iridescent Gold on the wings.

Step 13:  I started adding detail with the Pigma Micron and highlights with the Gellyroll gel pens.

Step 14 thru Who Knows:  I fussed and re-added vermillion and other colors.  I lifted off much of the color I used with alcohol soaked on a paper towel.  I highlighted with the gellyrolls, adding swirls in the hair and decoration on the dress.  I made feathery lines on the wings.

Step the last: I used the moonlight yellow Gellyroll pen to write my saying, and darkened around it with the black Sharpie pen.

Because of all the metallic, iridescent and shiny this page looks like a hot mess at some angles of light and pretty cool from others.  This shot shows more of the texture on the wings from the bits of peeled paper I glued on.

Supplies:

3 sheets of old music paper

Polymer Medium (any white glue or gel medium, such as Mod Podge, would work)

Acrylic Paint-vermilion, metallic pearl white, metallic yellow, ultramarine blue, iridescent gold, light pink, light orange

Higgins Ink-Indigo, Yellow and Red

Sakura Gellyrolls-Moonlight Yellow, Classic White

Pigma Micron-.05

Sharpie fine point-black